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Celebrating Vegetarianism

An Interview with Satish Kumar

Schumacher College is a fascinating place and one of the few entirely
vegetarian educational establishments. Founded by Satish Kumar and
named after E. F. Schumacher, author of the classic 'Small is
Beautiful', it is set in beautiful Devon countryside on the Dartington
Hall Estate just outside Totnes and offers a wide range of short
residential courses as well as open evenings, a Masters' programme in
Holistic Science and a Certificate in Education. The college is an
initiative of the Dartington Hall Trust

I recently met Satish, who at 72 shows no signs of taking things a
little easier, at Schumacher where he is Director of Programme and
takes the lead on designing courses and finding the right people to
teach them. He often takes a class himself, what he calls 'fireside
chats', where he invites students to explore a subject area with him
in an informal setting, and contributes to the college in a very
practical way by cooking a meal most weeks. He also ensures that the
philosophy that inspired Leonard Elmhurst to establish the Dartington
Hall Estate in 1925 is upheld. Elmhurst spent several years in India,
Satish's country of origin, where he met Rabindranath Tagore, a poet
whose holistic philosophy encompassed the environment and ecology,
economics, agriculture, the arts and spiritual practice, as well as
the practicalities of everyday life such as cooking.

Satish's commitment to vegetarianism is deeply rooted. He explained,
"I say half seriously and half jokingly that I have been vegetarian
for 1600 years! My family was of a warrior caste and were soldiers in
the service of the king. Then a Jain teacher came to our village and
he converted the entire village to non-violence, pacifism and
vegetarianism. My ancestors went to the king and asked permission to
renounce all violence, including violence to animals. The king granted
permission, honoured my ancestors' change of religion, and created a
new merchant caste of treasurers for them". Many years later Satish
was born into the Jain tradition which as he says, "Puts non-violence
above all else; to do no harm to other humans, animals, nature or
yourself."

This philosophy was deeply embedded in his family's life. "My mother
came from a farming family. We had two cows and they were like family
members. We respected them and every morning we would go to them and
thank them for helping to sustain us. Cows were never fed with grain,
only grass. The calves were allowed to feed first, and only then would
my mother milk the cows. Then the calves would be given another
opportunity to feed. Male calves were kept as bullocks to plough the
land. When the cows and bullocks got old they went to an 'old cows'
home' run by a Jain community and our family paid for their upkeep
until they died. Only once the animal had died a natural death would
the skin be used for leather."

Growing and preparing food was an important part of their life which
Satish remembers vividly. "We grew sesame seeds for oil, millet,
fruit, especially melons, and lots of vegetables. It was all-seasonal
of course so vegetables were also dried and stored. We did not grow
wheat and rice so we exchanged sesame seeds for these. My mother was a
very good cook and made lots of different dishes from these
ingredients including sweet dishes like rice pudding. It was delicious
food. She used to grind grain every morning by hand to make flour
because she believed it was more tasty and nutritious if it was
freshly made. As she did this she used to sing beautifully."

Satish remembers the food they ate was delicious and nutritious but
simple and he still cooks many of these dishes today. "We mainly ate a
combination of rice, lentils and vegetables. My mother used to say
that nutrition came from the aroma, taste and colour of our food so a
meal usually contained sweet, sour and bitter tastes and several
different colours. Every bit of the food, every grain, was cooked with
care and there was no waste. After we had taken our share we returned
what came from the soil back to the soil - the cauliflower leaves and
banana leaves, the potato peelings were all composted and the land was
kept beautifully. This is such a contrast with modern society where so
much which could be used to feed the soil goes to landfill meaning we
need artificial fertilizers."

The decision that Schumacher College would be completely vegetarian
was taken 18 years ago when it was first established. Lots of people
advised against this, concerned that the college would not attract
enough students but Satish decided to stick with his decision and has
never regretted it. Satish explained, "This is an ecological college
and apart from many other things vegetarian food is the most
ecological food. The world already has six billion people but if you
think of all the cattle, all the pigs, all the chickens that need to
be fed and all the land that is needed to grow grain to feed them then
the population of the world is much higher. We only have one planet
and we have to know our limits. This makes vegetarianism an
ecological, environmental and sustainability imperative."

So Satish decided that Schumacher should set an example. But then he
and the other founders also wanted to dispel the myth that vegetarian
food is drab and dull - they wanted to offer delicious, celebratory,
healthy and nutritious food. So they decided that all staff and
students would participate in cooking. Satish explained "Learning at
Schumacher is not just about theory. Learning is experimental and what
is learnt in the kitchen is just as important as what is learnt in the
lecture room. When people are cooking and talking together they learn
from each other. And we want people to know that food is not simply
fuel, it also brings people together and connects them. We also
realised that if students' experience here was to be useful we should
not rely on imported food so we have a garden where they spend time
each day. In this way growing food, cooking food and eating together
builds a sense of community and there is no disconnection between
celebration and nutrition!"

For Satish vegetarianism is a holistic and non-violent philosophy, not
just a dietary choice, which he sees as even more relevant than in the
past. "Meat consumption is causing climate change that is leading to
the ice caps melting, sea level rise and flooding - and all just for
our palette." He welcomes recent work at the United Nations such as
the Livestock's Long Shadow report believing it shows that "Pragmatic,
hard-nosed policy makers are starting to see that the non-vegetarian
diet is a major cause of global warming and that we have to go
vegetarian. It's no good just changing our light bulbs when so much of
our carbon footprint comes from how we grow, distribute, store, cook
and eat our food. If we can reduce and, if possible, eliminate meat
consumption then we will be looking after our planet."

Satish is also convinced that a vegetarian diet is a healthy one and
that human beings have no need of meat. As he says, "I'm 72 and have
no lack of energy". He dismisses fears about nutrition and lack of
protein and is concerned that agri-business uses its economic power to
perpetuate these myths simply to bolster their profits. He often
advises people to cut down their meat consumption so they can adjust
their habits gradually rather than try to go vegetarian in one go. As
he says, "You cannot arrive at a place without making the journey and
every journey begins with one step. Begin to reduce your meat
consumption - that's the first step. If you are eating meat three
times a day, reduce it to once a day. If you are eating meat once a
day reduce it to 2 or 3 days a week. Start by reducing meat
consumption and learn to make delicious, nutritious, celebratory
vegetarian meals."

There is no doubting Satish's passionate commitment to
vegetarianism. "Western countries have a great responsibility", he
says. "We must have an ecological world view and vegetarianism is,
fundamentally just that. Vegetarianism is not so reductionist as to be
just about what's on our plates - it is a holistic philosophy, a
non-violent way of life and of thinking. And if we do not go
vegetarian then the planet will be in peril."

Add the stock and while this is simmering on a low heat, dice the cauliflower.

Add the cauliflower when the rice and lentils are soft.

When the cauliflower is soft (approx 3 minutes) add the peas and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Finally add the chopped coriander, mix it all together and serve hot.

The consistency of this dish is similar to Italian Risotto and the
cauliflower and peas should be tender but crunchy. This is also a good
recipe for vegans. If you are not vegan you can add a little butter on
the top of each serving. Indian pickles, yoghurt and pappadums are a
good accompaniment to Khicheri.

Enjoy one-pot cooking, less washing up!

This interview was first published in The
Vegetarian magazine, published by The Vegetarian Society: www.vegsoc.org